


He's not staying

by exuberant_imperfection, kate882



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-03
Updated: 2015-08-03
Packaged: 2018-04-12 17:53:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4489080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/exuberant_imperfection/pseuds/exuberant_imperfection, https://archiveofourown.org/users/kate882/pseuds/kate882
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aomine didn't know what wrong choices he had made in life to end up talking to a cat that was hiding behind a dumpster, but here he was.</p>
            </blockquote>





	He's not staying

Kuroko was walking home from work when he noticed a cat approaching him. He smiled down at it and bent down to scratch its ears, earning a purring sound, before he started walking again.

After a few steps he realized that the cat was following him. He shrugged, figuring it would get bored and leave him alone eventually. That didn’t seem to be the case, because when he walked into his and Aomine’s home it darted inside and looked up at him meowing. It looked like it was almost daring him to kick it out.

Upon further inspection, the cat kind of reminded him of Aomine. The fur color was very similar to Aomine’s hair at least. And when it laid down to sleep on his floor it certainly reminded him of Aomine. He hesitated, but decided that he didn’t really care that much about having a strange cat in his home and let it stay. Nigou was pretty good with cats after all. With that thought in mind, Kuroko went to the kitchen and started to make dinner.

When Aomine got home from work he was greeted with the smell of dinner in progress, which, after a long day, put a smile of relief on his face. He went to the bedroom to change into comfortable sweatpants, and then headed to the kitchen, where Tetsu was currently minding something in a pot on the stove.

“Hey,” he said, resting a hand on Tetsu’s waist and kissing the top of his head.

Kuroko tilted his head back to look up at Aomine and smiled at him. “Hello, Daiki,” he replied. “How was your day?”

“Eh,” Aomine said with a shrug, and bowed his head again to kiss Tetsu on the lips this time. “Coulda been better, coulda been worse. How about you?”

“The kids decided to use me as a jungle gym today, so it was kind of painful on my arms and shoulders,” Kuroko replied.

Aomine practically shuddered at the thought. “Damn gremlins. Little beasts, all of them. I don’t know how you put up with them.” He walked over to the fridge to grab a drink, then noticed movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned… and almost dropped his beer as he yelped. “Why the _hell_ is there an animal in our house???”

“Huh?” Kuroko looked down and saw the cat walking over to him and then felt it rub against his legs before looking up and meowing at him. “Oh. This is Daiki #2,” Kuroko said, kneeling down and petting the cat.

Aomine just stared in bewilderment for a second and then suddenly realized, “Hey! What the hell? It took me _four years_ to get you to call me Daiki even _once_ , and now you’re naming random stray cats after me?”

“He looks like you,” Kuroko replied simply, smiling down at the cat when it started purring and tried to get into his arms. Kuroko obliged it, picking it up and looking down at the bundle of fur in his arms happily.

Aomine narrowed his eyes at the cat, and at the amount of affection that Tetsu was showering over it. “...We’re not keeping it,” he said firmly.

Kuroko looked up at Aomine with betrayal. “But...Daiki, he followed me home because he wanted a family.”

“Tetsu, cats are _evil,_ ” Aomine insisted, carefully trying not to look directly into the cuteness that was Tetsu’s wide, pleading eyes. “...Possibly even more evil than children.”

“Does this look like the face of evil to you?” Kuroko asked, looking down at the cat who was leaning up to sniff his chin before letting out a small meow and rubbing its face against Kuroko’s, causing Kuroko to laugh since the whiskers tickled.

“Yes.” He was now frowning deeply at the cat. “It’s manipulating you as we speak.”

“He’s cute. That’s not manipulation.” Kuroko replied, setting the cat down so that he was paying a bit more attention to the conversation, even with the cat rubbing up against his legs again while purring.

Aomine _looked_ at him. “You’re cute. And you _know_ how cute you are. And you _definitely_ use that to manipulate people.”

Kuroko put on a look of offense before batting his eyelashes at Aomine. “I can’t _believe_ that you think I would do that to people,” he said, and then looked at the ground sadly. “I can’t believe that you would think so lowly of me,” he said quietly.

Guilt wracked Aomine’s chest for a split second before he snapped himself out of it. “No, no! You’re doing it right now, you stop that!” he said, pointing a finger accusingly.

Kuroko looked up at Aomine with a hurt expression. “You think that I would do that to _you_. Not just other people, but you think that I’m horrible enough to do that to you?” he asked. So, maybe cute and manipulative did go hand-in-hand. That didn’t mean Kuroko didn’t still want the cat.

Aomine sighed in defeat and reached out to grab Tetsu so he could kiss his stupidly cute face, but the moment he got closer, the cat was suddenly between them and hissing fiercely. Well, as fiercely as a cat that tiny could manage. It was kind of pathetic, which made Aomine feel even _more_ pathetic because he may have shrieked a little in surprise. “Look, Tetsu, look! It wants to kill me!!!”

The cat settled itself in front of Kuroko and watched Aomine suspiciously which caused Kuroko to laugh. “I think Daiki #2 thinks he’s protecting me from you,” Kuroko told Aomine, seeming to find this to be absolutely adorable.

“What?” Aomine exclaimed. “Are you trying to tell me that, even though this thing clearly hates me, and is also an _actual demon,_ you still want it in the house?”

“He doesn’t hate you. He just wants to make sure I’m safe,” Kuroko replied.

“Safe from _what?_ I’m not a threat!” Aomine glared at the cat and pointed angrily at it. “You’re stupid, cat. You’re _stupid._ ” The cat hissed again and Aomine mockingly hissed back.

“Daiki, you’re acting like a child,” Kuroko said flatly. “He probably thinks you’re a threat to me because you keep yelling at me.”

Aomine crossed his arms and looked away. “Yeah, well, I wouldn’t be yelling if you hadn’t brought the dumb cat here in the first place,” he muttered.

“I didn’t. He followed me home,” Kuroko told him, kneeling down to pet the cat so that it would stop glaring at Aomine.

Aomine sighed in frustration and trudged across the room to sit at the table with his drink, making sure he kept the cat in his sights at all time. “It can leave after dinner, I guess. It’s not staying forever.”

Kuroko decided to wait until after dinner to argue that one. He simply pet the cat a few more times before walking back over to the stove to check on the food, the cat trotting after him and sitting next to his feet as he finished up cooking and brought a plate to Aomine. He got out a smaller plate and put a bit of food on that, putting it on the ground for the cat since he didn’t own any cat food.

Dinner went about as normally as it could with Aomine turning to toss a glare at the cat every few seconds. When they were done, Aomine looked between the cat and Tetsu expectantly.

“Why can’t we keep him?” Kuroko asked, picking up the cat and cradling it against his chest.

“Because it’s rude and it doesn’t like me,” Aomine said vehemently. “And I sure as hell am not going to risk being killed in the middle of the night by this homicidal fluffball.”

Kuroko looked down at the cat sadly. “Alright. Fine. If you really hate him that much,” Kuroko said. “But you have to be the one to put him outside. I won’t betray him like that.”

Aomine rolled his eyes, determined not to be swayed by Tetsu’s cuteness tactics. “Gladly,” he said, scooping up the tiny cat with one hand and heading to the front door, where he tossed it out onto the lawn and shut the door quickly so it couldn’t sneak back in.

Kuroko was pretty quiet for the rest of the night, going to bed before Aomine, and pulling out a book to read.

In the hopes of cheering him up a little, Aomine leaned in to give him a kiss and tried to pull the book away so they could continue, but then Tetsu _looked_ at him, and Aomine backed off immediately. There was the same dangerous glint in his eyes as the first time Aomine had ever tried to pull Tetsu away from a book for sex, and that had ended with the book leaving a nasty bruise on Aomine’s head.

Aomine sulked in silence for a few minutes until he had accepted the fate of a sexless night, and instead scooted closer to Tetsu again and tried to cuddle with him.

Kuroko scooted away a bit and turned his back to Aomine to indicate that he wanted no part of cuddling that night either.

Aomine was concerned and confused, and was about to ask Tetsu what was wrong… and then he realized what it must be. _...Are you kidding me???_ he wanted to say, but wisely did _not_ do that. Instead, he sighed and asked, “What, are you still mad about the dumb cat?”

“That cat was not dumb, and no, I’m not mad at you. I’m just disappointed. I liked that cat. I wanted to keep him,” Kuroko replied, continuing to look at his book.

Aomine felt a little bad, but that cat had been an asshole, and he really wasn’t interested in having it in the house. “Oh, come on, it wasn’t that great. Why’d you even like it so much?”

“Because he reminded me of you,” Kuroko said simply. He decided to give up on reading, closing the book and turning off the lamp next to the bed.

 _...Oh._ Aomine stared unseeing through the darkness of room for a long minute. He tried in vain to push aside the feelings of guilt, but they overwhelmed him easily. So, he lay down on the bed and spent a good chunk of the next hour resigning himself to the fact that he had lost this battle. _Dammit._

* * *

When Aomine woke up, he heard the shower running—Tetsu was up before him, as usual. So he headed to the kitchen immediately began brewing a strong pot of coffee so that Tetsu could become a functioning human being before he had to go deal with small children. Then he started preparing to make food. He was just cracking some eggs into a bowl when Tetsu walked into the kitchen. “Mornin’, beautiful,” he greeted him. “You hungry?”

Kuroko poured himself some coffee—no matter what mood he was in, he needed that to wake up properly. He couldn’t even remember showering, but his hair was wet so he must have. He took a few sips before answering. “Not really. I think I’m going to try to go in a little early today.”

Aomine glanced at him in mild concern. “Are… you sure?” he asked, cracking one extra egg into the bowl just in case Tetsu changed his mind.

Kuroko nodded. “I’m sure,” he replied. He gave Aomine a quick goodbye kiss on the cheek and then left after putting his mug in the sink.

Aomine watched him leave and sighed, running a hand through his hair. He was definitely going to have to do something about this, soon.

So, after work that day, instead of going directly home, Aomine retraced Tetsu’s usual path home from the school and investigated alleys and cardboard boxes and random bushes, trying to find the cat. He would try calling its name, but first of all, it had only been named Daiki #2 for one day, and second of all, he’d feel really weird walking down the street yelling his own name.

He finally found the cat hiding behind a dumpster, and approached it carefully. “Uh… hey there, cat.” It hissed at him, and he _really_ wanted to just turn around and go home, but just the thought of Tetsu’s sad face kept him in place. Instead of approaching any more, though, he knelt down on the ground where he was and attempted to talk some sense into the cat.

“So… okay,” he said, not looking directly at the cat because its eyes were a little scary. “Listen. I know you don’t like me. And I don’t really like you—” The cat hissed again, and Aomine rushed to continue before it got angry enough to maul him. “But, we both like Tetsu, right?”

The cat relaxed surprisingly quickly after Aomine mentioned Tetsu’s name and tilted its head at him. If cats could talk, Aomine imagined it might be saying, “...Okay. You have my attention, human. You mentioned the human I actually like.”

So Aomine kept going. “...So, I feel like we have a common goal. And we should… work together. To make Tetsu happy.” He reached out slowly towards the cat. “So… truce?”

After a long moment of staring ominously at him, the cat stepped forward, sniffed him, and briefly rubbed its head against his hand. Aomine smiled in spite of himself. Then he stood up and started walking away, hoping the cat would follow him like it did Tetsu.

When he walked in the door of the house, he called out, “Oi, Tetsu! You have a visitor!”

Kuroko had been in their room, and poked his head out of the bedroom door, about to ask who it was, since he didn’t have plans with anyone. Then he noticed the small cat behind Aomine and his whole face seemed to light up. “You brought him back!” he said with excitement, running over and hugging Aomine before sitting down to pet the cat, which promptly curled up in his lap and started purring contently.

The happiness on Tetsu’s face was all it took for Aomine to know that living with the damn demon cat would be worth it. He walked towards the kitchen to investigate possibilities for dinner, ruffling Tetsu’s hair on the way. “Just… try to convince him not to hate me, yeah?”

Kuroko smiled brightly at him and nodded before returning his attention to the cat. And then Nigou came to investigate, and Kuroko could suddenly be found with two animals in his lap instead of just a cat.

Later that night, they were on the couch watching a movie—well, Aomine was watching the movie. Tetsu had drifted off an hour ago, which was usually very adorable because he would fall asleep leaning on Aomine. But this time, he was cuddling with Nigou and Daiki #2 instead, only his feet laying over Aomine’s lap.

And maybe he could have even gotten over that—it was Tetsu’s first night with the new cat, after all—except the damn thing was just _looking_ at Aomine. It never took its eyes off of him, and each time Aomine glanced at it, the more he was convinced that there was somehow a _smug_ expression on the cat’s face. If cats could talk—and that was phrase Aomine hadn’t thought he’d be using twice in one day—he was sure it would be bragging about having Tetsu all to itself.

By the time the movie was over, Aomine had had enough. He pushed the cat away (and carefully moved Nigou, who he actually liked), and scooped Tetsu up, carrying him to the bedroom.

“Daiki?” Kuroko mumbled when he felt himself being lifted up. “Where are we going?” he asked around a yawn, rubbing his tired eyes.

“To bed; you fell asleep on the couch,” Aomine explained, unable to resist kissing his unfairly adorable face. Then the cat meowed loudly in protest. “Shut up, he’s mine!” Aomine called over his shoulder.

Kuroko reluctantly cracked his eyes open to look blurrily up at Aomine. “Daiki... are you fighting over me with a cat?” he asked incredulously.

Aomine opened his mouth to deny it, but found he really couldn’t. “...Yes. Yes, that’s what’s happening right now.” He deposited Tetsu onto the bed and lay down next to him, pulling the cover over both of them.

“That’s stupid. Don’t do that,” Kuroko mumbled, closing his eyes again.

The kitten came through the still open door, and after a bit of work and a few failed attempts, made its way up onto the bed, climbing on top of Kuroko, and settling down on his stomach, giving that same look to Aomine.

“Yeah, yeah,” Aomine said as he threw an arm over Tetsu and pulled him closer. “Just leave room for me too, dumb cat.” The cat gave a half hearted hiss at him, but was starting to look almost as sleepy as Kuroko. So Aomine smirked a little and then closed his eyes. _Maybe this won’t be so bad,_ he thought as he drifted off to sleep.

The next day Kise came over to meet their new cat and threw himself at Kuroko with a shout of “Kurokocchi~” as soon as Kuroko opened the door, almost knocking the smaller man over in the process.

“Oi, get off of him, idiot!” Aomine yelled… and at the same time the cat hissed from beside him and rushed at Kise, getting between him and Tetsu. “...Good dumb cat,” he said, pleasantly surprised. They exchanged a look of camaraderie. Maybe this really wouldn’t be so bad.


End file.
